The European Union

1. The European Union Special Case of International Relations or Special Actor in International Relations? EU teacher training 9 July 2010, UNC Chapel Hill HolgerMoroff

2. Goals • examine efficiency of EU policies: • foreign • defense and security • economic and trade negotiations • analyze the efforts being made to improve competency within these policy fields • explore the EU’s changing role in IR and how these policies affect it

3. Process of Developing a Foreign Policy • European Defense Community (1950) • Hague Summit (1969) • European Council (1974) • Single European Act (1986) • Maastricht Treaty (1992) • Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) What were some of the weaknesses of the original designs and how did they change over time?

4. Timeline of EU Defense Policy • May 1992 – Eurocorps established • June 1992 – Petersburg Declaration • 1999 – European Security and Defense Policy • 2003 – European Security Strategy • 2004 – RRF to Battle Groups

5. Opposing Ideologies of Defense • since the 2001 terrorist attacks, there has been a debate between the use of soft power and hard power • US: hard power or preemptive action • EU: soft power or preventative action • Atlanticists vs. Europeanists

6. EU in a Global Setting: Superpower What pressures or series of events occurred to make the EU stand apart from the US and emphasize its increasing role with the rest of the world? • 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States • 2002/1999 launch of the Euro currency • 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq • 2004/07 eastern enlargement of the EU

7. Where does the EU stand now? • world’s largest and richest marketplace • 30% of global GDP • 39% of merchandise trade • 42% of trade in commercial services • dominating actor in global trade negotiations • biggest market in the world • biggest source of foreign direct investment

8. Where does the EU stand now?(continued) • Common Commercial Policy – complex network of bi-lateral and multi-lateral trading agreements • EU Commission negotiates majority of external trade agreements • from GATT to WTO: EU and US discrepancies • EU/US have brought more cases than any other country over environmental standards, tariffs, subsidies and intellectual property rights

9. Relations with the US and NATO • post-WWII: strong • US provided security against Soviet threat, support for reconstruction and integration under Marshall Plan • 1971: weakeningof US leadership in Europe • abandonment of Gold Standard and collapse of Bretton Woods system • 1995: improved relations, Transatlantic Agenda • biannual meetings with goals to promote peace and democracy, expand world trade and improve ties • current: shaky due to divisions over policies towards US War on Terror

10. Relations with Eastern Europe • Membership negotiations (1995): Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia • 2004/07 enlargements • Neighborhood policy: privileged countries: prioritized by the EU with goal of promoting democracy, human rights, rule of law, good governance and market economics • EU plays a dominant role in post-Soviet countries • relations with Russia less successful

11. What are some benefits and concerns about the EU’s relationship with Eastern Europe? Benefits: • increased size of European marketplace • new investment opportunities • increase in the EU’s presence as a global actor • increased spread of democracy and free-market • helped redefine meaning of Europe Concerns: • ability of Eastern European countries to integrate • immigration from East to West • enlargement fatigue / imported instability

12. Development Cooperation • European colonial ties in ACP countries • concentration of developmental aid policies • Yaoundé and Lome Conventions • Lome IV: three main elements • EU criticized for creating economic dependence and continual flow of low profit, raw materials from ACP to EU in return for high profit and manufactured goods, biggest problem is within ACP countries: • failure to diversify, build up more skilled labor force, invest in infrastructure, and become more competitive in world markets • EU as lead donor today

13. Substantive Assumptions • the EU matters in the world and the world matters to the EU • EU positions, decisions and actions in the world are produced via complex interactions in a multi-level system • the process of EU action and reflection internationally is dynamic and often progressive/cumulative

14. Methodological Assumptions • historical understanding of the origins of the EU’s international relations • considerations of ideas and material factors shaping the development of the EU’s international relations

15. A Sub-System of IR How has the EU dealt with its own (internal) international relations? “democratic peace” “civilizing processes” “Europeanization”

16. A Sub-System of IR(continued) What ideas bind the EU member states together? intense trans-governmentalism civilian power European heritage

17. National Foreign Policy and the EU • EU foreign policy has had a somewhat transformational influence on national foreign policy • Brusselization or Brussels based inter-governmentalism • national foreign policy is now constructed in a collective context

18. National Foreign Policy and the EU(continued) • Consultation Reflex • seeking the views of EU colleagues before constructing their own analyses of the situation and possible policy responses • widening of foreign policy areas • “many member states have to generate and defend positions that – even 10 to 15 years ago – they would not be expected to have held

19. A Special Actor in IR? • the Capabilities and Expectations Gap • compare and contrast public expectations of what the Union was suppose to accomplish in the world with the means and capacities that the member states had actually bestowed upon it • revealed gap between these public expectations and EU capabilities

20. A Special Case of IR? (continued) Competing Theories • the EU has developed its own unique foreign policy system, comprised of 3 parts • collective external relations • Common Foreign and Security Policy • individual foreign policies of member states • the EU has a part-formed foreign policy, based mostly on its economic and trade capacity • key interplay between member states, EU institutions, and the external world

21. A Special Case of IR?(continued) • Constructivist Approach: EU foreign policy is rooted in identity rather than interests • “state actors consider the context and expectations of the decision-making situations in which they find themselves and base their resulting decisions accordingly” • “What will the European partners think?” rather than “What is our national position on this?” • the EU’s international identity is complex: orientation towards justice and human rights is unique